This is another update to the previous versions of the change tracking projects for Customer and Vendor cards:
Based on the version 4 projects, this update for GP Power Tools Build 32 changes the project to use a Custom Table and Custom Table Buffer calls rather than SQL Scripts and Parameter Lists. So, it does require Build 32 or later to work.
I have been meaning to write this article for quite a while. The Batch Posting Service Toolkit (BPST) is a product created by Winthrop Development Consultants to provide a variety of methods for posting, maintaining, transferring batches, etc.
The API’s (Application Programming Interface) can be called externally as a Service Based Architecture (SBA) Web Service (for GP 2015 or later), or from inside the Microsoft Dynamics GP application using Dexterity, Visual Studio Tools (via C# or VB.Net) or via GP Power Tools.
The Batch Posting Service Toolkit is exactly that, a toolkit designed to be called by a developer and so it does not have an interface (except for testing the API). However, you can use the Scheduling functionality in GP Power Tools to post batches on a scheduled basis, read on for more details ….
Scheduling or automating tasks in Microsoft Dynamics GP is a common request, so this example demonstrates a method that can be used to run any process on a scheduled or automated basis using GP Power Tools.
The specific example we will be using is running an Inventory Item Reconcile on items that have been flagged as needing reconciliation. This code was developed in conjunction with Arthur Achilleos, who has agreed for it to be published.
A recent GP Power Tools customization project for Microsoft Dynamics GP which I assisted a customer to create, ensures that a GL Account Number is entered on each line of a Purchase Order Transaction.
The customer for which this project created for has allowed it to be published on the blog to benefit anyone else who would like similar functionality.
Using the GP Power Tools – Developer Tools module for customization is a great method of automating processes in Microsoft Dynamics GP as well as customizing behavior to meet the requirements of your business.
Many customers are also using GP Power Tools to replace Visual Basic for Applications now that it is “End of Life” and unsupported.
I was recently asked how to hide a window opened and closed as part of an automation using GP Power Tools. This article explains the techniques you can use to open a window as hidden.
This example adds filtering on an amount and/or a document number to the Apply Sales Document window when the Find window is used. as well as sorting the documents by date. The additional functionality can make it much quicker to find the correct document for a payment to be applied to, by its amount or by any part of its document number.
This customization also demonstrates some very useful techniques including:
GP Power Tools Build 31 added Virtual Fields as a feature to the Developer Tools module. Virtual Fields allow additional fields to be added to windows without needing Modified or Alternate windows.
Virtual Fields are implemented using a series of Helper Functions which allow windows to be expanded, Virtual Fields to be added and then triggers and scripts applied to use the new fields.
GP Power Tools has the ability to recreate user SQL logins after a server migration using the Database Validation window, or reset multiple user logins using the SQL Login Maintenance window. Both of these methods can use fixed or randomly generated passwords and have the ability to send emails to users with their new password. Also, changing the user’s password from the User Setup window can send an email.
The wording and formatting of these Password Reset emails can be defined in GP Power Tools by your system administrator. You can even use HTML to format the emails as described in the article below:
To be able to send emails to your users, you need to ensure that GP Power Tools knows the email addresses of the users. They are entered into the User Setup Additional Information window which can be opened from the User Setup window (if it is not set to automatically open). The sample code in this project shows how you can take the data from an Excel spreadsheet with the User ID and Emails of the users and import it from the clipboard directly into GP Power Tools.
This is another “Must Have” free customization example for you Microsoft Dynamics GP system when you have GP Power Tools – Developer Tools module.
When creating new Customer, Vendor and Item cards, it is possible to include certain characters in the ID fields which can cause issues with Microsoft Dynamics GP, its ISV products and integrating products.
Here is a quick project that can make using Microsoft Dynamics GP much easier for your users. We are going to use GP Power Tools along with the free menu module of Visual Studio Integration Toolkit to add windows to the application level navigation menus.
For our example we are going to use the Professional Services Tools Library and add a menu to the main window of the product as well as the Receivables Transaction Unapply window.
[Edit] We are also going to add the Item Reconciler window as that requires some different techniques.
This is a further update to the previous version of the change tracking project for Item Cards:
Based on the version 2 project, this update adds optional emailing of the changes made to a specified address.
This is another update to the previous versions of the change tracking projects for Customer and Vendor cards:
Based on the version 3 projects, this update adds optional emailing of the changes made to a specified address.
GP Power Tools has very powerful and flexible Automatic Logout functionality to gracefully log idle users out of Microsoft Dynamics GP. However, this feature requires the user to be idle for a specified period before it will attempt to logout.
As an Administrator there are times where you would like users to exit Microsoft Dynamics GP immediately and don’t want to wait for Automatic Logout to activate. The sample project in this article makes this possible.
Previously, we have discussed controlling the Report Destination Dialogs and even External Dialogs using GP Power Tools but have not published any examples of controlling the standard System Dialogs shown when the warning, error, ask() or debug commands are used in Dexterity.
This example shows how GP Power Tools adds this functionality not normally available for use with Dexterity. Visual Basic for Applications and Visual Studio Tools both have the ability to trigger before and after Modal Dialogs, but Dexterity does not. GP Power Tools adds the functionality with its Modal Dialog Focus Triggers.
During the Dexterity Fundaments Bootcamp training, which was run in the week prior to the Community Summit 2023 conference, one of the attendees came up with an issue using the Multicurrency Access Setup window in Microsoft Dynamics GP.
Their problem is that the list of companies shown on the right-hand scrolling windows are unsorted and the customer has over 300 companies. This makes using this window extremely frustrating and slow. They already owned GP Power Tools and wanted to use it for a fix.
A few years ago I published an article showing you can use a GP Power Tools custom RW Function to execute a SQL query and return data to a report. This article used some techniques which were valid at the time and while they still work, there are better and faster methods available in the later GP Power Tools builds.
Here is the link to the original article:
I have been approached a couple of times with the request to place a QR Code (Quick-Response Code) onto a Microsoft Dynamics GP Report Writer report.
My initial response was that it was not possible as there is no way to include a dynamic image in a report. Only static images (such as logos) can be stored in the dictionary and added to reports.
But then I found online a couple of vendors selling QR Code True Type fonts….
We are seeing more and more sites realizing the potential of using GP Power Tools – Developer Tools module as their platform for custom development for customizations, tweaking and fixing behavior of code within Microsoft Dynamics GP.
Many customers are using GP Power Tools (GPPT) to replace their unsupported Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) customizations, which is great as GPPT is the best solution for replacing VBA, Dexterity and Visual Studio Tools addins. It offers many benefits over other development tools.
This week I was asked if GP Power Tools could automatically handle the login to email dialogs. Initially, I was thinking that this would not be possible as the login dialogs for both the Exchange Web Service and Multi Factor Authentication modes are not Dexterity based.
Then I decided to experiment with the .Net SendKeys Class using a .Net Execute script in GP Power Tools to see if the dialogs could be controlled by using code to insert keystrokes into the keyboard buffer.
Yesterday, I had a quick chat with one of the legends of the Microsoft Dynamics GP community as they were preparing a session for the upcoming Community Summit 2023 in Charlotte, NC, USA and hit a technical issue which is actually a limitation in Dexterity (the development tool behind Microsoft Dynamics GP).
Read on to find out who is returning to Summit this year and how GP Power Tools solved their problem with the rw_CreateSOPTrackingNumberString() report writer function.